Where Have All The Good Sprites Gone?
by Jay Navi
Summary: A story told from Enzo's POV about what happened during the time he was Game hopping with AndrAIa and Frisket. Rated T for violence.
1. V 1 0 Prologue

V 1.0: Prologue

_My eye! The User cut my eye! It hurts so bad! I.. I can't see out of it. Is this the end? Total Nullification? No. No, I won't let it. My icon…_

In order to protect Mainframe, my home, AndrAIa and I had to play the Game Cube. A Game Cube is what a User inputs into our system. Nobody knows why they do it. All we know is if we lose the Game inside the Game Cube, the whole sector that the Game lands on is completely shut down. Offline. Totally Nullified!

My name? I am Enzo Matrix. My format? Guardian: To Mend and Defend. I am the successor to my friend, and idol, Bob. Although, I'm just a little Sprite. Nobody believed I could do it at first, but then once I started beating the User at Games, everybody started to believe-even those who spoke against me. I wasn't so sure myself, to be honest. But Bob believed in me and I promised to do my best!

Bob. That's the third time I mentioned him. Bob was a real Guardian. He protected us from the viruses, Hexadismal and Megabreath. Oh, sorry, I guess I should use their real names. That's Hexadecimal and Megabyte.

Some cycles ago, this Web creature opened a portal to the Web. The Web is like… I don't really know how to explain it but it's sort of like this huge space of information, I guess. A portal is something Guardians use to travel to other systems. Anyway, after the Web creature opened the portal, Bob had to team up with Megabyte and Hexadecimal. He made me a Guardian right before Megabyte betrayed him and sent him into the Web when the portal was nearly closed.

Afterwards, Dot, my sister, gave me Glitch-Bob's key tool. A key tool is what Guardians use to create portals and do other neat things. From that point on, I was the Guardian of Mainframe. I swore to protect the system from any danger. The two main dangers were Games and Viruses.

As I said earlier, I entered the Games to protect the System. However, this one Game I entered, I couldn't win. It was a Game called "Gods, Mortals, and Demons". I told AndrAIa to take Frisket to reboot as one of the characters. I was gonna reboot as the character the User chose to fight.

The User chose his character: Zaytan. I missed my first chance to face the User, but I got to see its moves-especially its finishing move. The next three opponents the User chose, I missed rebooting as. The final one, though, I was right: a yellow ninja.

I fought the User with everything I had and beat it once. In the next round, it fought back and beat me. This was it. The next win won. I fought with everything I had again, but the User fought back just as hard. Eventually, it cut my eye.

I had lost. I lost the game. I let everybody down. I let Dot down. I let Phong, Mouse, AndrAIa, and Frisket down. But, most of all, I let Bob down. I had only one option left.

I looked at AndrAIa and Frisket. AndrAIa seemed to know what I was planning. I switched my icon to Game Sprite mode. AndrAIa did the same to hers and Frisket's icons. This way, we wouldn't be nullified.

The User did its finishing move on me. The Game ended. It left Mainframe and took us with it. What now? Now we find our way back to Mainframe. Now we find our way back home.


	2. V 1 1 The First System

V1.1: The First System

"AndrAIa, go to sector 06 and cut it off." I told my friend, "I'll get behind it and block its way back."

"Right, Enzo." AndrAIa said as she left.

The Game we were in was a basic combat game. The objective was for the User to make it to the next level without losing any lives. This was all told to me by Glitch. If I was right about getting AndrAIa to cut the User off, then we would win the Game. I had already told AndrAIa to change her icon back to its normal mode and I had done the same with mine and Frisket's.

I snuck around to sector 05, ready to ambush the User. Once the User was in sight, I yelled out "Now!" to AndrAIa who jumped down off a ledge in front of the User. I jumped out from behind a bush and blocked its way back so it couldn't go around AndrAIa. We both moved in closer to the User, but the User pushed past AndrAIa and started running.

"Frisket, sick 'em!" I commanded my dog.

Frisket jumped out from behind the bush I was behind and ran over to the User, tackling it. He grabbed the User in his teeth and held it there. It was now AndrAIa's turn to damage the User. AndrAIa got up as she got her fingernails ready and jabbed them into the User's neck. It wasn't deleted yet, so I got my knife out-the knife I got when I rebooted-and stabbed the User.

_Game Over_

The Game cube lifted off the system. It wasn't Mainframe, but it didn't look like it had any sectors offline. Some binomes with weapons "greeted" us. It didn't look like they were viral, but something didn't seem right in this system.

They took us to the Principle Office. There, we saw a young Sprite-not as young as us-in charge of the system. At least, that's what we thought. He introduced himself as "Para" and called the real command dot com of the system. A door opened in the wall and an old Sprite came out.

"We're terribly sorry, Mr. Guardian," I assumed he was talking to me because I was still wearing my Guardian outfit, "Please, forgive our hostile behaviour." He ordered the binomes to leave. "My name is Cap and I am the command dot com of this system."

"I am E-uh, Matrix. My name is Matrix and I am a Guardian."

"Guardian Matrix," Para said, "Forgive the behaviour of our CPUs earlier. It's just that we don't get many visitors from the Games. We assumed you were a User or, worse, a Virus."

"I-It's no problem. It happens to us all the time." I lied. This was actually the first system we had been to.

"Uh, who are your friends, Guardian? Are they Guardians, too?" Cap asked.

"No. This is AndrAIa and Frisket. They travel with me to other systems."

AndrAIa said, "It's a pleasure to meet you." Frisket just growled.

"So, what bring you to our system?" Cap asked.

"Well, the truth is, we got lost in a Game and now we're trying to find our way back to Mainframe, where we come from."

"Oh. I see. That is so sad. Please, feel free to stay in our system as long as you like, Guardian Matrix." Cap said.

"Cap, are you sure?" Para said cautiously.

"Yes, young Para, I am very sure. Now show Guardian Matrix around the system." Cap responded.

Something didn't feel right about the two but I couldn't quite place it. Para took us to some zip boards and we took off into the system. It was a lot like Mainframe, but I knew it wasn't. Maybe it was a sister-system. Bob said there were sister-systems out there. Sister-systems are systems that look similar, but are different.

"Guardian Matrix, uh, may I ask what happened to your eye? You never open it." Para said.

"Oh. I lost it during a Game." I replied.

"I see. I can show you a good place to get a replacement, if you like." Para said.

"Really? Alphanumeric!"

Para took us to this run down-looking shop on Level 25. There was an old binome running the shop. He reminded me of Mr. Pearson. He reluctantly let us look around. He seemed to be afraid of Para for some reason.

"Java," Para said addressing the old binome, "put whatever Guardian Matrix wants on the Principle Office's tab."

"Of course, Para," Java said, "I wouldn't do anything that goes against the Guardians or the Principle Office."

Java had a wide selection of eyes, fingers, toes, and almost any other limb. It was definitely not the place AndrAIa would like. Good thing she left to look around the system before we got here. I guess she had the same feeling as I did when we came to the system.

I looked around and pointed to an eye. It was sort of like the one I had lost, but Java said it didn't suit me. I looked around and pointed to another eye, however Java said the same thing. I looked at all the eyes that were on display, but Java said the didn't suit me.

"Here, take this eye." He said pulling out a box from under the counter. "I think it suits you just fine, young Guardian."

He opened the box. Inside was a gun and a gold eye with a crossfire on it. I didn't really think I needed it because any other eye would look like I never had one missing. This one, however, would be the opposite of any other eye.

"I don't know, Mr. Java-" I began.

"Please, young Guardian, just call me Java." He said.

"Alright, Java," I hesitated on the name, "I don't know about this eye. It's a nice eye and all, but doesn't it just give away that my eye was missing?"

"Yes, it would," Java said, "But you will be able to track things as well as lock onto things with the gun. It's a very handy tool. If you are going to be living in Games, then it will come in handy."

I looked at him suspiciously and said, "Who told you-"

"What? Told me what? I don't know anything. I'm just a simple sales binome. That is my format. It's what I do." Java defended.

"You remind me of someone I know." I said, still looking at him suspiciously.

He changed the subject quickly, "If you're going to buy it, then buy it and I'll get it set up with your nerves and Gun. After that, you can get out of my shop."

I let out a small laugh and said, "You remind me of two people. I'm just not sure which one you remind me the most of." I shrugged and said, "Alright, do your little operation thing."

"Come with me into the back, young Guardian," Java said. He turned to Para, "As for you, you can wait outside."

Para did so and I followed Java to the back of his shop. He told me to sit in a chair and that he was going to put me offline for a bit while he did the operation. I sat in the chair and he put some kind of mask on my face. My eye started to get heavy and soon it closed. I wasn't completely offline, though.

I opened my eyes to find I was in a field. I looked around to find AndrAIa and soon found her behind me. But she looked different somehow. She was tall and wearing different clothes. Her hair was longer, too.

I started to run to her, but a mirror suddenly appeared in front of me. I saw a sprite who sort of looked like me. Except he was big, muscled and wearing a black vest. He had the eye that was being installed in me and the Gun is set up to it. He also had Glitch.

Who was this Sprite? Was he me? Was this the version of me that I had to look forward to? Was this the version of me that could help me save Bob? More importantly, was this he version of me that could help me defeat Megabyte and save Mainframe?

Just as I was thinking these, Java woke me up. I couldn't make out what he was saying. I couldn't even speak for a few nanos. It took about ten nanos to finally figure out what he was saying.

"Guardian, get up," Java said "The operation is complete. You now have a brand new eye. It's a good thing it's going on the Principle Office's tab, otherwise you'd have to pay a hefty amount."

He helped me up. I was a bit dizzy at first. But I slowly regained my balance. I then realised that I needed to find AndrAIa and tell her about my dream. Java helped me out of the shop and I insisted that I was fine.

Para was waiting outside of the shop on a zip board. He handed another one to me. I asked him if he knew where AndrAIa was and he figured she was with Frisket on Level 12. I took off and Para followed, but soon got in front of me.

"This way, Guardian Matrix." Para said.

I followed the direction he went and we soon found AndrAia and Frisket. AndrAIa was the first to notice we had arrived. She held out something that she found while looking through this Level. Frisket growled at Para.

"Easy, Frisket," I said to calm him down, "AndrAIa, I need to tell you about this really weird dream I had."

"First, I need to talk to you," She said, "Matrix." She added the last word with emphasis. I thought I was in trouble for not using my first name.

We walked a out of listening range. She commented me on my new eye. I didn't let it get to my head too much. She decided to just cut right to the chase of why we needed to talk.

"I think there are viruses in this system." She said plainly.

"Viruses? Don't be silly, AndrAIa. If there were any viruses, Glitch would pick them up." I reassured her.

"Did you even use Glitch?" She drilled.

"Uh… Not yet," I said hesitantly, "But I was going to." I took out the key tool that belonged to my friend and commanded it, "Glitch. System scan."

The key tool beeped twice. AndrAIa was right; there were two viruses in this system. I don't know how I couldn't see it before. I couldn't let AndrAIa know she was right, though, so I decided to ask her another question.

"What make you think there are viruses here, AndrAIa?"

"The system is too neat. There isn't a sector offline."

"Maybe they just care about their system?" I said.

"Enzo," she said with emphasis.

There was no denying it. There were two viruses in this system. It must be two of the people living in this system. I can't overlook them for I am a Guardian. To mend and defend.

-  
A/N References: These references are all having to do with the characters in this chapter: "Cap" is a reference to the "Caps Lock" button on the keyboard. Para is actually a shortened word for parenthesis, that's this: "(" or this: ")". Java is a reference to the Javascript language.

A/N: Alright so, I can't do the normal spelling of command dot com on this site. I think it's stupid, but what can you do? Anyway, whenever I mention the command dot com of a system, I'll actually be spelling it out here as "command dot com". I'll be writing it normally on my word processor, though. So I'll have to change it when it comes up onto here.

A/N2: Also, in one of my other stories, "Beneath The Surface", I mentioned a website called www. tfsabridged .com. Well, that website no longer exists. It now redirects to TeamFourStar's official website, www. teamfourstar .com. The webmaster of the former site made a new site, abridged .tv. Just recently, the webmaster closed all of his sites but one and combined them. So, in a sense, abridged .tv got upgraded to the new site, epic-box .com. Still, I urge you all to go there and sign up. They have a Ragnarok server there as well, if anybody is interested in that.  
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	3. V 1 2 Two Viruses

V 1.2: Two Viruses

When AndrAIa and I returned to where Para was, Frisket was barking and growling at him. I didn't know what had gotten into that dog. It wasn't like him to just bark and growl like that. I mean, sure, he barked and growled at a lot of people, but he only did it to tease them. It seemed more like he was going to attack Para.

"Frisket, down." I commanded.

Frisket immediately quit growling and barking. He seemed attentive to my next command. He probably hoped that I would order him to delete Para. I could never do that, though.

"I'm sorry about Frisket, Para." I apologised.

"Uh, no," He cleared his throat, "No problem, Guardian Matrix. I don't really like dogs all that much because they seem to not like me."

"I need to go back to the Principle Office, Para," I said, "Can you take us back?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I can do that." He said getting on his zip board.

AndrAIa and I both go on our zip boards. I let Frisket get on my zip board as well. We all left for the Principle Office but AndrAIa and I followed Para at a distance. We had things to discuss.

"So, Enzo," She said, "What was your dream about?"

"Dream?" I asked. I had forgotten all about the dream when I learned that there were viruses in the system. "Oh, uh, it wasn't really that important. What is important, though, is where and who the viruses are."

"Yeah," She agreed, "I'm not sure, but I've got a hunch."

"What is it?"

"I've never seen Frisket act like that toward anybody before." She explained.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," I said, "but remember? Para said dogs didn't really like him much."

"Enzo, I know how you must feel about these people, but I don't think they are who they say they are."

"I don't know, AndrAIa," I looked down at Frisket, "What do you think, boy?" Frisket looked up at me. "That's what I thought," I said.

After a few nanos, we were at the Principle Office. The CPUs were there guarding it. Para cleared his throat again and the CPUs stood at attention. It was strange that he had to clear his throat for the CPUs' respect. I also noticed that they were shaking.

Inside the Principle Office, we met with Cap. We didn't tell him about the viruses in the system just yet. Instead, we talked about how their system was like Mainframe. It wasn't until Para was with us that I decided to tell them about the viruses.

"Cap, I know this is going to be hard to believe, but you have viruses in your system." I said truthfully.

"Viruses?" The old sprite asked, shocked, "How can this be? With every system scan, I check for any kind of bug or virus. So how could a virus go undetected?"

"Maybe the virus goes undetected because he's disguised as a Sprite or a binome?" AndrAIa said.

"Yes. That is a possibility," Cap said, "but I know every sprite and binome in this system. Not one of them is capable of being a virus."

"Well, there's a virus somewhere in this system." I said.

"Yes," Para said, eyeing me suspiciously, "And it was only brought to our attention after you got here. Perhaps you are a Virus and you're here to infect us."

"That's insane!" I yelled, "I'm a Guardian! How could you think I was a virus?"

"I think you're just pretending to be a Guardian so that you can enter the Core and infect the entire system!" Para yelled back, "I've read about Guardians and how they use portals to travel from system to system. Viruses come mostly from Games."

"I've heard enough," Cap said, "Guards, take the viruses to the holding cells. We'll figure out what we're going to do with them later."

Six CPUs came into the Principle Office and grabbed us. Two grabbed me, two grabbed AndrAIa and two tried to grab Frisket but he fought them off. The CPUs came two at a time to try to grab Frisket and each time he fought them off. I was struggling to break free of the CPUs but I knew I couldn't.

"Frisket, run!" I yelled. Frisket looked at me again. "I said get out of here! Go!"

Frisket ran off as I had commanded him. If he was captured then there wouldn't be anybody who could get us out of the prison. Frisket was our only chance if we were going to take down those two viruses. There wasn't any doubt in my mind who they were now: Cap and Para.

My guess is that Cap was pretending to be the command dot com of the system in order to get into the Core and infect the entire system. His style wasn't 'raise an army and take over the Super Computer'. It was 'infect the entire system before going to the Super Computer'. I assumed that what all viruses wanted was to take over the Super Computer.

However, since Cap was getting old, he had Para do most of the work. The command dot com must've fled when the viruses came to the Principle Office and the two viruses used the opportunity to take over the system. But, before the command dot com fled, he locked the core with a code only he knows. And the viruses need the code to get into the core, which is why the whole system isn't viral yet.

"That's a great theory, Enzo," AndrAIa said after I told her my theory, "But how do we get out of here?"

"I'm working on that." I told her.

Just then, we heard a noise coming from the distance. We didn't have to wonder what the noise was for long because a nano later, we saw Frisket come through the door. But he wasn't alone. There was a small group of sprites and binomes with him. Among the group was Java, the one who put my eye in.

"I told you that Gun would come in handy on your journeys, Guardian." Java said.

"Java," I said, delighted, "can you get us out of here?"

"Now why would I want to do that," Java said, "when you are perfectly capable of doing it on your own? I only came here to help you take down those viruses in our Principle Office."

"But, how do I-" I started.

"With Gun of course," Java said, "Just say the command 'Gun. Targeting.' and say what you want to target. If you don't say anything, it'll target whatever you look at with your eye."

"Um, alright, Gun," I said. Gun left the place I had it on my leg and began floating in the air beside me, "targeting," I could feel my eye move, "Target, lock." I saw a red crossfire on the lock of the cell and no sooner had I saw the crossfire than I grabbed Gun and pulled the trigger.

"Well done, young Guardian," Java said, "We'd better get going now. Someone probably heard that and they'll be coming to check."

I held Gun up to my mouth and blew the smoke off the barrel. I then put it back on my leg where it had been before. I grabbed AndrAIa and we ran to catch up with the others who had started running before us. Java led us to a secret passage that ran to Level 12.

We were led to a room inside a building where about fifty sprites and binomes were discussing things. I didn't really hear what they were saying when I first walked in because everyone was talking at the same time. However, when we walked in, they were all quiet.

"Java," one of the younger sprites said, "what is the meaning of this? Why have you brought outsiders into our meeting house?"

"Mac," Java said to the sprite, "I thought you, of all people, would recognise a Guardian."

"A Guardian?" Mac said mockingly, "Ha. That sprite is no more than a kid. How can he be a Guardian? I bet he doesn't even have a key tool."

"He does, too, have a key tool," AndrAIa said back. She then turned to me and said, "Go on, Guardian. Show them your key tool."

"Well…" I held up my right arm, the arm Glitch was on.

Mac walked over to me and looked at the key tool. He scoffed. Then he walked back to his spot around the table that was in the middle. He waited until he was back in his position from when we first came in to speak again.

"A kid Guardian and a broken key tool," he said a little more loudly than was necessary, "the perfect combination of System Saviours. Tel me, Guardian," he said the last word with emphasis; probably mocking me, "how many systems have you saved?"

"I…I've saved…" AndrAIa cut me off.

"He's saved more systems than you can count," she lied.

"Oh, really?" Mac said faking intrigue, "Tell me, the exact number. Was it 100? Or maybe it was 10? Or just 0?"

"It was more than 100. For your information, it was-" AndrAIa started.

"AndrAIa, stop." I cut her off, "He's right. I'm no Guardian. I'm just a kid with a broken key tool."

I left the room and the building. Mac was right: I was just a kid pretending to be a Guardian. Glitch was broken and couldn't perform 100%. Not to mention the fact that I didn't even go through the Academy to become a Guardian.

AndrAIa and Frisket came out to check on me. I didn't pay them much attention, though. At anything AndrAIa said, all I said was "hm." I knew there was only one thing to do in order to get respect.

I stood up and walked away. When AndrAIa followed me, I told her and Frisket to stay with Java. I grabbed a zip board from a binome who was sitting on it, drinking an Energy Shake. I threw it out in front of me and jumped on. Then I went off. I came back a nano later and took Glitch off my arm then gave it to AndrAIa.

"Hold on to Glitch for me, 'k?" I said, "I won't be gone long. I just need to… think somewhere."

Before she could say anything, I went off again. I knew where I was going and I wasn't going there to think. I stayed low to the ground because I thought there would surely be CPUs looking for us. I noticed something I hadn't noticed before: Binomes gathering around burning barrels. These people were living in slums.

Once I was closer to my destination, I started to rise. I rose slowly, though, so I wouldn't attract any unwanted attention. When I was above the buildings, I could see my destination. My destination, the Principle Office.

"Gun," I said quietly as I got closer to see there were several CPUs sanding guard, "multi-targeting. Target: Every CPU on this side of the Principle Office."

I wasn't sure if I needed to be that specific, but it worked. My eye locked on to every CPU that I could see. Gun had already left my side. I grabbed it.

"Make one move and I'll shoot," I said when I approached the Principle Office. I was sure they had seen the targets on their bodies so I figured they were scared. "Now, open the door." Nobody moved. "Open it!" I pointed Gun at one of the CPUs.

The CPU moved out of the doorway to the Principle Office. It was already opened. I went inside while still on the zip board. I followed the long hallway to a room where Cap and Para were sitting.

"Ah," Cap said, "Guardian Matrix. Why didn't you tell me you were coming? I would have made a nice smooth Energy Shake for you."

"Save it, Virus!" I yelled, "Your infection stops here and now!"

"My, my," he said grinning, "such big words coming from such a little Sprite. But I'm curious, what were planning to do? Report me to the Guardian Corps so they can put me in a prison of sorts?"

"Not really, no." I said pointing Gun at him.

"Then what are you gonna do?" Para said.

"I'm gonna delete you. Both of you." I told them.

They laughed. "Isn't it against a Guardian's programming to delete?" Cap said.

"Maybe," I said clicking my icon. My clothes changed to those which I dreamed about, "but it's not for a Renegade! Gun, targeting! Target: Cap." My eye locked on to Cap who was trying to run away after seeing my costume change. "Fire." I pulled the trigger and a bullet hit Cap in the back of his head. After he fell to the floor, he vanished.

"Targeting!" I yelled, turning around to look at Para who was running in the opposite direction of Cap. "Fire!" I pulled the trigger again and the bullet went through Para's head. He didn't even make it to the ground before he vanished. I had just deleted two viruses and it felt great.


End file.
